Improving Bowel Habits of Elderly With Probiotics and Non-probiotics

NCT ID: NCT02949882

Last Updated: 2016-11-17

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

UNKNOWN

Clinical Phase

PHASE4

Total Enrollment

260 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2017-04-30

Study Completion Date

2017-08-31

Brief Summary

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There is a relative high prevalence of constipation and antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) in the elderly residents of nursing homes, mainly due to high antibiotic and medication usage. Constipation and diarrhoea causes a substantial burden on lives of the frail elderly and significantly reduces the quality of life (QoL). In addition, these circumstances lead to a higher workload for healthcare workers and treatment of constipation and diarrhoea increase costs in healthcare. There are indications that the gastrointestinal microbiome is altered in conditions, such as constipation and AAD. Research indicates that probiotics show potential in the treatment of constipation, AAD and infectious diarrhoea. Probiotics can restore the aberrant gastrointestinal microbiome and thereby possibly treat/prevent constipation and diarrhoea in the frail elderly population. To illustrate, a previous pilot study of probiotic administration in elderly residents of a nursing home demonstrated a reduced prevalence of constipation and diarrhoea stool types and a higher prevalence of ideal stool types during the intervention compared to the baseline period. These promising results demand for a confirmatory study in this population.

Detailed Description

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The primary objective is to assess the effect of a probiotic intervention and a non-probiotic intervention on bowel habits of elderly (\>80 years on average) in several nursing homes in the Netherlands.

A randomized, double-blind, superiority, multicentre trial. In this trial a probiotic fermented milk drink will be compared to a non-probiotic drink on its potential to improve bowel habits. Both drinks are commercially available in the supermarket. After a run-in period of 2 weeks, 260 subjects will be randomized (1:1) into either the probiotic fermented milk arm (n=130) or the non-probiotic drink arm (n=130), both for a period of 10 weeks.

The study population consists of 260 frail elderly of relatively high age (\>80 years old on average) living in several nursing homes in The Netherlands. One arm receives daily one bottle (65 ml) of Yakult Original (YOR), a probiotic fermented milk drink containing at least 6,5\*10\^9 colony forming units (cfu) of Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS), for 10 consecutive weeks without changing the regular diet. The other arm will receive a dairy milk drink (AH Basic Dairy Peach Drink, 65 mL) for 10 consecutive weeks, also without changing the regular diet.

The change in bowel habits of the subjects will be measured according to two main study parameters; (a) Stool-quality according to the 7-point Bristol stool chart, and (b) defecation frequency, measured as number of stools per time unit.

Conditions

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Diarrhea Constipation

Keywords

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Diarrhea Constipation Elderly Nursing Homes Probiotics Bowel Habits

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

QUADRUPLE

Participants Caregivers Investigators Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Probiotic Intervention

130 Elderly participants receiving daily 65ml Yakult for 10 consecutive weeks.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Yakult

Intervention Type DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Containing at least 6,5\*10\^9 colony forming units (cfu) of Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS)

Non-Probiotic Intervention

130 Elderly participants receiving daily 65 ml of Dairy Peach Drink (AH Basic) for 10 consecutive weeks.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Dairy Peach Drink (AH Basic)

Intervention Type DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Commercially available dairy drink with peach flavour.

Interventions

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Yakult

Containing at least 6,5\*10\^9 colony forming units (cfu) of Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS)

Intervention Type DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Dairy Peach Drink (AH Basic)

Commercially available dairy drink with peach flavour.

Intervention Type DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Resident of nursing home
* Age of ≥ 70 year

Exclusion Criteria

* Participant is seriously ill
* Immune deficient
* Intensive medication
* Life expectancy of ≤ 6 months
* Lactose intolerance
* Cow milk allergy - Stoma
* Major gastro-intestinal surgery in the past (e.g. bowel resection, gastric bypass)
* IBD
* Currently using a probiotic product, and not willing to stop this 4 weeks prior to the start of the study
Minimum Eligible Age

70 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Yakult Europe BV

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role collaborator

Athena Institute, Netherlands

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Eric Claassen

Prof. Dr.

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Eric Claassen, Prof. Dr.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Athena Institute, Free University of Amsterdam

Central Contacts

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Joost Flach, MSc

Role: CONTACT

Phone: +(31) 6 40275130

Email: [email protected]

Related Links

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http://www.cr2o.nl

Executive organisation (Clinical Research Rotterdam)

Other Identifiers

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14NL-1-TLM-CON2

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id